


Take My Hand and Sink With Me

by Mttproductions



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Violence, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Romance, Flashbacks, Friends to Lovers, Illustrations, M/M, Major Original Character(s), Multi, OC X CANON, Other, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Queer Character, Slow Burn, Social Alcohol Consumption, Soldiers, Sparring, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, Trans character written by trans author, because solan is wildly oblivious to his own feelings, emotionally constipated, queer characters written by queer author, tags will be updated as the story is, thanks chapter 3 flashback whoo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:33:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25888156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mttproductions/pseuds/Mttproductions
Summary: Being aboard a United Nations battleship that was swept aside by the unperturbed giant UnaVaatu similarly to how one swats away an insect, Solan suddenly realized that he wasn’t young enough to deal with the dangers of serving anymore. After being officially discharged but unfortunately misplaced due to his former apartment building being covered in spirit vines, he decides to pay a visit to an old comrade living on the bay. Unbeknownst to him then, this choice led Solan to find his partner for life, and finally tear the shroud away from the memories of his past.Or; The one original character-centric fanfic you’re going to want to read! A friends to lovers, slow burn Bumi x OC fanfiction following seasons 3 and beyond. Follows canon with all major plot decisions, with some minor break offs to give Solan’s story life. At least one original Illustration contained in each chapter!
Relationships: Bumi II/Original Character(s), Bumi II/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	1. Restart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This starts a day before the first episode of season three.

Solan took a deep breath as he grabbed his bags and stepped off the ferry onto the ground of Air Temple Island. He took a moment to look up at the trail leading to the temple, before he began the trek up the path. When he first stepped onto the ferry, he wondered if he was making a mistake by going to the temple. After all, he hadn’t seen the man he was coming to see for a long time; and he hadn’t exactly said he was coming. Besides, would he have even been upset or angry at Solan for showing up out of the blue? Perhaps he hadn’t seen Solan as as much of a friend as Solan saw him? Solan casted off those doubts soon after they came into his mind; he had made up his mind when he had stepped onto the ferry, and he decided he wasn’t going to turn back. He wanted to see his friend, and if his friend didn’t want to see him then sobeit. 

Solan made it to the top of the steps and took a moment to look around the open area. There were air acolytes who were walking around the place, and a few turned to look at him. He saw no sign of who he was looking for. 

“Can I help you, sir?” An air acolyte walking over to him asked.

“Yeah, actually. I’m looking for Bumi. Is he here?” Solan replied, once more flashing his eyes around in an attempt to spot his target.

“The last I saw, he was in the courtyard with the others,” the acolyte pointed over to an area obscured from their view. Solan could faintly hear voices coming from that direction. Solan gave a quick thanks before walking in the instructed direction, and he heard the voices growing louder. As he came around the corner, he saw multiple people come into view. There were three children all grouped around a young woman in water tribe clothing. They seemed to be playing some sort of airbending game; or perhaps were sparring? Solan wasn’t sure, and had other things on his mind rather than trying to figure the group out. He instead turned to look over at the benches at the side of the plaza, where two people were chatting amicably; of which one was the exact person he was looking for. Solan walked forward until he had gained the attention of all the people in the courtyard, then stopped. His eyes met Bumi’s, who stared at him with his brows furrowed. 

“Well look what the cat dragged in…” Bumi said with a low tone. The woman sitting next to him, in water tribe clothing like the other but fairly older than the first, looked at Bumi with concern until following his gaze towards Solan. Solan kept his position, and met Bumi’s glare with a cool look of his own. They continued to stare at each other as the woman with the children stepped in front of them, looking towards Solan with a gaze clearly meant to intimidate him. Solan didn’t look away from Bumi. Finally—after staring at each other for nearly a minute—Solan’s face softened ever so slightly into a smile.

“Good to see you, Bumi.” He said with fondness. Bumi suddenly broke out laughing, and jumped up to his feet to walk over to Solan. He immediately came in to give Solan a hug with a few hearty slaps on the back, to which Solan returned with a bit less enthusiasm. 

“Good to see you too, Solan! Whatcha’ doing here?!” Bumi asked after his laughter died down. He pulled away and Solan could see the huge grin on his face. 

“Oh jeez, Bumi, I thought you were about to deck that man with the way you were looking at him!” The woman who was sitting next to him called with annoyance and frustration in her voice. Bumi laughed again and moved to Solan’s side, squeezing him in his way of friendly affection.

“Kya, this man is one of my mates from the U.F.! Solan, meet my little sister.” Bumi announced with a grin. Solan nodded genially at the woman.

“Charmed.” Solan said. Kya waved, then crossed her arms and leaned back. Bumi let go of Solan’s shoulder, then stepped back to look him over. 

“Now you gotta tell me, what are you doing here? I thought you were still serving!” 

“I was, but after the whole Harmonic Convergence, I decided to follow your lead and retire. I’m too old to deal with that sh-.. stuff.” Solan said, flashing a look back over to the group of children who were now staring at Solan with curiosity. Bumi chuckled. “I just got back to Republic City, and thought i’d see what you’re up to before going to find some place to stay. I had somewhere planned before I left, but well...We’ve all seen the vines that have just showed up and blocked off a ton of buildings.” 

“You must have been going to the same apartment building my friends were in,” The woman who wasn’t Kya suddenly said, approaching the two men. Solan looked at her curiously. “I’m Korra, by the way.” She said, holding her hand out. Solan’s eyes widened slightly. 

“Avatar Korra, I’ve heard tales. Pleasure to meet you,” Solan shook her hand firmly. 

“Hey, if you don’t have a place, you could stay here!” Bumi said. 

“Oh, no, you don’t have to do that. I’m no airbender or acolyte.” Solan replied immediately. 

“My friends are staying here too and there’s still free rooms in the men’s dormitory. It’s fine if you stay,” Korra insisted. 

“If you’re sure,” Solan said, giving a small bow. “I’m grateful for both of your kindness.” 

“Oh, you don’t have to thank us. You’re my friend, of course I’d let you stay,” Bumi grinned, and Solan smiled back at him. He really had missed Bumi. Solan’s eyes caught once again on the children, and he figured he should probably be introduced to them too.

“So...who are the kids, Bum?” Solan questioned as a young boy met his gaze with intensity. 

“Oh yeah, these are my brother’s kids. That’s Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo. They have another son named Rohan, but he’s just a baby. I’ll introduce you to Tenzin and his wife too,” Bumi answered, and pointed to each child as he named them.

“It’s nice to meet you all,” Solan tried to give a friendly smile, as none of the kids seemed very comfortable with him. The oldest girl—Jinora—gave a polite greeting, while Ikki shifted behind her sister without a word. Meelo, the youngest, just kept staring at Solan with furrowed brows. 

“You look super scary,” Meelo announced suddenly. Solan suddenly coughed as if something were stuck in his throat, while Bumi just started cackling. 

“Meelo, don’t be rude!” Korra scolded immediately. Solan caught his breath and then questioned his existence for a moment, mostly because of the fact that this was not the first time someone had told him that. Solan had been informed multiple times, in fact, that his neutral expression came across as uncharacteristically stern. Coupled with the fact that Solan was a more quiet man who didn’t emote dramatically in any case, he tended to come across as scarier than he ever wanted to be.

“I know, my face looks very mean,” Solan finally replied. He took a few steps closer and kneeled down so he was looking at Meelo closer to his level. “But trust me, I’m just scary _looking._ I wouldn’t have served with the United Forces if I hadn’t wanted to help people.” Solan smiled at the children as best as he could, and it did seem to calm the anxieties of Ikki, who started to creep out from behind her sister. “I promise I'm very happy to meet you all, and I'm much nicer than I look on the outside.” 

“...It’s nice to meet you,” Ikki finally said. She gave a small smile, and Solan tried to give the most encouraging smile back. Suddenly, Solan felt a hand grab the collar of his jacket and it pulled him back up onto his feet. 

“Now come on Solan, you gotta meet my brother before we catch up! He could rival your grumpy face in a heartbeat!” Bumi boomed from just behind Solan. His joke caused the children to laugh, and Solan had a feeling that his brother ( _Tenzin, he thinks Bumi had said once?_ ) was quite the serious guy. Solan couldn’t blame him, considering he would have had to deal with being the only airbender left to carry on the legacy of airbending. 

“See you around,” Korra gave a small wave, and Solan nodded his head in return, then waved at the kids. 

“Kya, you should come with,” Bumi called over his shoulder to the older woman who had been sitting and watching the rest of them as if they were characters in a mover. “I gotta have Solan tell you and Tenzin about my service stories so then you both stop calling me a liar!” 

“I’m fine here; and Bumi, you know you’ve made those up!” Kya yelled back. Solan watched Bumi cross his arms and pout like a child.

“I do _not_! Sure, maybe some details are exaggerated, but…” Bumi retorted, and Solan exhaled in amusement. Solan had heard his fair share of Bumi brand stories; and while he knew Bumi certainly had reasons to reach the rank he did, he also knew Bumi was one who wasn’t afraid to fib if it’d make his achievements look even more impressive. “Come on, back me up here!” Bumi jabbed an elbow into Solan’s arm, who made a small noise of protest at the faux-attack.

“I will confirm that Bumi has had several...interesting missions, at least from the amount of reports I’ve read and missions I’ve been on with him,” Solan vouched. He looked at Kya and saw her roll her eyes dramatically. Solan could feel the sibling energy radiating off of her. Bumi wrapped his arm around Solan’s shoulder and gave him a friendly pat. 

“See? Now you have someone who can tell you those events first hand other than me!” Bumi laughed. “Now come on, let’s find my brother,” Bumi said as he led Solan into the temple. Solan looked around and his eyes widened as he took everything in. He’d never been inside an air temple before, and the outside was interesting enough as it was, but the inside was beautiful all in it’s own way. Almost as if he had read Solan’s mind, Bumi spoke.

“First time being in an air temple, right?” 

“Yeah,” Solan said quietly, still taking it all in. Despite how simple it was in terms of items, the walls were intricately decorated as well as the support pillars in the room. Solan didn’t notice Bumi watching him until he let out a chuckle, seemingly amused by Solan’s wonderment. 

“I grew up here so it’s not a big deal to me, but I had only seen the original air temples only a few weeks before Harmonic Convergence. If you think this place is cool, you should have seen the others. Can’t say I’ve ever been a big spiritual guy, but it was...it was pretty damn cool.” Bumi’s voice was surprisingly quiet compared to his usual boisterousness, and Solan saw how sincere Bumi had been when he looked in Bumi’s eyes. Solan knew it must have been impactful for him to see the true living places of his ancestors; of his father. Solan put a hand on his shoulder as comfort, and Bumi looked at him with a small thankful smile.

Bumi showed Solan around the temple to make sure he would know where all the facilities were in the temple. Then, Bumi led Solan out of the back of the temple and through some roofed walkways until they made it to a small pavilion, where Solan could see a bald man in orange robes sitting in a meditation form. If Solan hadn’t known better, he could have mistaken the man for Avatar Aang himself. Before Solan could approach the pavilion, Bumi stuck out his hand and stopped him from moving forwards.

“Watch this,” Bumi whispered as he motioned for Solan to stay quiet. Bumi then turned and started to creep towards the man, clearly trying to make his footfalls as light as possible. Solan had a feeling that Bumi was in the middle of pulling a prank, and from the tales he had heard of Bumi’s brother, he wasn’t going to be very pleased about it. Once Bumi was only a few steps behind him, he suddenly burst out yelling, “Hey Tenzin!” 

Tenzin quite literally flew into the air as he jumped reactively, and huge blasts of air came from his feet as he spun quickly and then pushed himself back, flying into one of the support beams holding up the roof. As soon as he had recognized the person who had yelled, his face turned from surprise to anger faster than anyone’s Solan had ever seen. He wondered briefly if he was about to witness a murder. 

“Bumi, why in the name of the spirits did you do that for?! Now my entire meditation session is ruined!” Tenzin shouted, and Solan was worried he would pop a vein. Bumi held his hands in mock defense.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. It’s not like you don’t have ten other meditation sessions everyday that could easily make up for this,” Bumi returned with sass. His words only seemed to anger Tenzin even more.

“Meditation is an important practice both to help maintain one’s connection to the spirit world and to help the flow of energy in one’s body, and if you had understood the importance of it, you won’t just w--” Tenzin’s words stopped as he met eyes with Solan who had started to take steps backwards to try and escape the brotherly conflict, and surprise lit in Tenzin’s eyes. He clearly hadn’t even noticed that Solan was there. Bumi took a second to follow Tenzin’s eyes to realize what had happened, and then his expression returned to one of calm aloofness.

“Well if you’re done nagging me, I can get on to the reason I came here in the first place and introduce you to someone.” Bumi gestured to Solan, who stepped forward a bit awkwardly. “Tenzin, this is Solan. He’s a guy I used to serve with in The U.F.”

“Hello,” Solan offered with a small wave and a crooked grin in an attempt to seem friendly. “I didn’t tell him to do that, by the way,” He added, causing Bumi to roll his eyes. Tenzin shook himself a bit in an attempt to clear himself of his previous angry demeanor and reached his hand out to Solan, who grabbed it and shook it immediately.

“My apologies for you having to see me lose my temper. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Tenzin declared with clear formality. 

“It’s quite alright. I think Bumi just has a habit of aggravating people,” Solan responded casually. Bumi’s mouth fell open in mock offense.

“Hey, I do not!” He defended.

“I do quite remember you getting into quite a few accidental bar fights because of you messing with the wrong person.”

“Hey, when I’m drunk doesn’t count!”

“You’ve done it sober, too.”

“Y’know, when I said you could tell my siblings my war stories, this isn’t what I meant,” Bumi grumbled and crossed his arms like a child. Solan could see Tenzin struggling to hide his amusement at his older brother’s frustrations. “ _Anyways_ ,” Bumi emphasized before turning back to Tenzin, “I wanted to tell you that Solan’s going to be staying at the island since the apartment he was going to stay at got covered in spirit vines like those friends of Korra’s.”

“He wouldn’t let me refuse,” Solan clarified. “Once I find another place I’ll get out of your hair--” Solan’s eyes glanced up at Tenzin’s hair, “--or lack thereof.” Bumi snorted and chuckled lightly at that, and Tenzin rolled his eyes.

“That’s fine. I know there were a lot of people displaced by the recent spirit wilds growth in the city; there’s plenty of free dorms on the island, so it’s not a problem at all if you need to stay here.” 

“Thank you both. It’s very generous,” Solan said with a small bow of respect. 

“Oh it’s not that big of a deal, this island’s huge,” Bumi exclaimed and wrapped his arm around Solan and squeezed his shoulder in affection. “Even if there weren’t any rooms left, you could throw up a tent somewhere!” Solan just shook his head, and Tenzin kneaded the bridge of his nose between his fingers. Suddenly, Bumi was moving Solan around and started pulling him away, making them start to walk in the opposite direction from where they had arrived at the meditation area. “Now come on! I’ve got to tell you all the _shit_ _that’s_ _happened to me_ _since I’ve retired! Harmonic_ _Convergence was a hell_ _of a night…”_

__

* * *

Solan slid open the door to what was now going to be his room for the foreseeable future and stepped inside. Bumi had pointed him to his room before going to his own, and Solan had suddenly felt empty without his boisterousness filling the space around him. After spending the whole evening with him, he had forgotten the silence of being alone. 

Solan didn’t mind silence. He didn’t mind being alone either. He naturally gravitated towards them, and found himself to be comfortable within the familiarity of them; but it was never because he disliked being with the opposite. It was quite like he simply missed the pieces of fun and solidarity with others in his life from his own personality, and being with Bumi—a naturally loud and extroverted crowd pleaser—filled the void of it in his life. As soon as he had become friends with him, he always found himself wishing he could be with Bumi when he wasn’t. He was glad that he could have such a friend like that in his life. 

Solan examined the room, which was sparsely furnished and simple in design. He wasn’t too surprised; he had heard from Bumi before that the air nomad culture focused on not being bound by earthly possessions. Solan walked over to the bed on the left side of the room and grabbed his bag sitting on the end of it that an air acolyte had kindly brought up before he had retired to bed. 

He took a few minutes to unpack and put his few civilian outfits away in the dresser and set his belongings onto the desk. He didn’t actually have many personal items to his name; simply his military medals, his wallet, a few books, a case that stored any important papers and pictures he had, and a decorative hair ornament to be worn at traditional fire nation events that he never had the heart to let go of when he had left his homeland so many years ago. He thought for a moment while staring at the piece sitting on the desk, before picking it up and shoving it up in the top drawer of the dresser, out of sight.

Solan changed into more comfortable clothes for sleeping before he laid down on his new bed. He noted unfavorably that it was actually quite hard and uncomfortable. He tossed and turned to try and find a comfortable position, until he finally gave up and just stared up at the ceiling. Truth be told, he hadn’t felt that tired at all. Or more accurately, his body felt fatigued and ready to rest while his mind was wide awake within. 

Solan couldn’t stop thinking about what his life was now. He had never before exactly had a plan for what his life was going to be. The only dream he had ever had was when he was a teen and longed to leave his family and go somewhere on his own; but once he finally did move to Republic City, he had been lost. He simply jumped from job to job, floating around until circumstances led him to the United Forces. Perhaps he had chosen it to try and help protect the world. What was more likely was that he had chosen it because he had no other idea where to go. 

And then he stayed with the United Forces for decades of his life. Now that he had finally made the decision to leave, he had to make the decision where he was to go next; and that was the very thought that terrified him. He had never known what he had truly wanted in life for over fifty years, and retiring certainly hadn’t shined any new ideas of life goals into his mind. 

Solan groaned and rolled over onto his side in frustration. Having an existential crisis over his future wasn’t going to help him at all; certainly not when he was having it at night while trying to fall asleep. He simply tried to cast off the worry and instead let himself live in the present and go wherever it pointed him to, just like he had been doing for all of his other major decisions in life. _I’ll know it when I see it_ , he reasoned with himself just as he had when he was twenty and trying to sleep for the first night in a dingy apartment in downtown Republic City. He just hoped he hadn’t been spending his life doing the wrong thing. 

Finally, after much more tossing and turning, Solan fell into his first sleep on Air Temple Island. Little did he know then, or for a long time after, that this was going to be his home for the rest of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy! Welcome to my master class fic that will probably never be finished but i will try my damned hardest to complete! I've actually already completely written the second chapter as well by time of posting but I need to work on an illustration for it as well.  
> FYI, Illustrations will probably range a lot in quality because i realized as I did the one for this chapter that I cannot suffer thru hours and hours of painting for every chapter I finish lol.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed what you have read so far! I genuinely have been thinking about this story for over a month and have been building Solan's character, trying to make him as interesting and believable as I possibly can. I've grown quite attached to him (and Solan/Bumi in general) and I've accidentally gotten two of my friends addicted as well. Hopefully strangers on the internet will grow to love him as much as I do.  
> Oh and just to mention, Solan's identity as a Trans and Gay Man probably isn't going to come up in any major way for a long while. There's building to do!  
> Bare with me as I try to get exposition chapters out of the way tho! I hope for more interesting content in the future :')
> 
> If you'd like to talk to me about Solan and Bumi (or anything at all really) feel free to hit me up on tumblr-->  
> main: @queerdistortion  
> ocXcanon/Self shipping blog: @queerselfships  
> Name of fic taken from the lyrics of this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJp2kcWnmnU  
> Check out the full quality illustrations on my deviantart: https://www.deviantart.com/angelcosmo


	2. Celebration

Solan awoke just as the sun had begun to creep up the horizon. While he did usually find himself waking when the sun did, he felt as if he hadn’t slept at all. Yet, he knew that even if he had tried, he wouldn’t be falling back to sleep anytime soon. With a sigh, Solan let fire form at the tip of his finger which he used to light his bedside lamp, and then stood and opened his dresser to find something to wear for the day. Once the sun had risen far enough that the light of the lamp wasn’t needed, he silenced the flame, and then exited his room.

Solan’s feet led him out to one of the cliff edges of the island. He saw the stretches of ocean in front of him, and he enjoyed seeing the sun rising over the waves. Even though he didn’t tend to care much for the ocean--as he was indeed a firebender--he felt a soft calmness wash over him. Solan decided to go with the calm feeling and practice a form of relaxation exercise he had learned from a fellow soldier many years back, which he often practiced as his own form of meditation. As he began to slide into the different forms, he suddenly heard a voice come from behind him.

“You’re up early.” Solan turned quickly, but relaxed when he recognized Kya behind him. He felt a twinge of awkwardness at being alone with her, since they still had barely talked after their introduction the other day. She had an aura of kindness to her, though, that kept Solan from being truly nervous around her. 

“I am quite used to waking with the sun,” Solan replied calmly. Kya walked up to stand beside him.

“You look a lot more tired than you’d expect for someone used to waking up early,” Kya shot back with a small smirk. Solan rubbed the back of his neck.

“I suppose I also didn’t sleep that well in any case,” He admitted.

“I don’t blame you. I’ve never found the beds here very nice to sleep in either; though it’s not the worst I’ve had.”

“That’s fair. I’ve definitely slept in more uncomfortable places,” Solan reminisced on memories in the United Forces, of uncomfortable cramped ship quarters and temporary camps in the wilderness. 

“So, you want to explain what exactly you were doing there?” Kya asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“Oh! Uhm, just some relaxation techniques. It’s something another soldier taught me a long time ago. I don’t even remember what he called it, I’ve just been doing it for so long…” 

“It honestly just looks like waterbending forms without the water.”

“Really?” Solan's eyes widened in genuine surprise. Now that he had actually thought about it, they were remarkably similar to the movements he had seen waterbenders practice. He suddenly felt like a giant idiot for never realizing it after many years. Kya snorted and laughed upon seeing Solan’s gobsmacked expression. 

“Have you ever thought about trying to use your bending while doing this?” Kya asked, and then her eyes widened and she immediately rushed to say, “If you are a bender, that is. I shouldn’t have just assumed, sorry.” 

“Oh, no, you’re quite alright. I’m a firebender,” Solan explained immediately. “Though, sometimes I wish I wasn’t; And no, I haven’t. Firebending is pretty different from waterbending. I'm not sure it would take well to waterbending forms.”

“Oh, I think bending techniques can all be applied to different elements, just perhaps in different ways,” Kya responded. Solan saw her hand reach down and unscrew a flask attached to her waist, then she pulled out the water inside and molded it into a ball floating above her hands. “Here, do what I do, but just use a flame,” she said as she changed her footing. 

“I’ll try.” Solan copied Kya’s pose, shook his hands out, and then rubbed them together quickly. When he pulled them apart, a small ball of fire floated between them. 

“Waterbending is all about the flow of energy within ourselves and about controlling that flow; while firebending is usually pushing out bursts of energy to attack. Concentrate on the energy and guide it instead of using force,” Kya said as she moved into the first position, taking a step to her left and leading the water up with her left hand while keeping her right at her side, which stretched the water out into a semicircle.

Solan watched and tried to do as Kya instructed. He focused on the fire in his hands and for the first time, saw it as a form of energy instead of a weapon. He carefully moved to the left and followed Kya’s hand positions, and the fire stretched out in the same basic shape as Kya’s water. Kya watched as he copied her and gave him an encouraging smile.

“Now try this,” Kya told him as she shifted her weight to her left side and brought her right leg up, while her hands moved the arc of water around in a counterclockwise circle until collecting back up into a ball. Solan followed her once more, and he felt flickers of pride in his chest as he matched the movements. Then, Kya slid her right foot in front of her with her left leg bent and bent the sphere of water out in front of her and then brought it back, similar to the motion of a yo-yo. Solan once again copied her movements, but when he moved the fire away from himself, he saw it shoot off into the distance and fizzle out instead of returning to him. 

“Oh,” Solan muttered to himself with disappointment as his face contorted into a scowl. He had found the experience of feeling the fire in his hands as an extension of his energy an extremely exciting feeling, but upon failing to control it he now only felt bitterness. How foolish he was to think his burden of firebending could be used as anything other than a weapon; that it could be a thing of beauty instead of rage.

“Don’t be all depressed about it,” Solan heard Kya say and then felt a punch against his arm, both actions snapping him from his internal monologue. “That was just your first try. If you practice more, I’m sure you’ll find that our bending isn’t that different at all.” Solan looked at her, and Kya returned his gaze with one of such caring that Solan wondered what he had done to deserve Kya’s warmth. He had only met her yesterday; he didn’t know why she had seemed to truly care for Solan and wanted him to succeed. Before he could continue with his train of thought, Kya had started to pull him away and start walking.

“Come on, let’s go get breakfast. Most people should have woken up by now,” Kya said cheerfully. Solan let himself be pulled, and together they went inside the temple to the cafeteria. 

* * *

The heat of the midday sun was intense, which had made Solan appreciate the shade of the tree he was sat under. He was reading a book he had gotten from the library of the temple and had been reading in relative quiet until the sound of footsteps and voices alerted him to someone else approaching. He looked up to see The Avatar walking into the courtyard with her two friends by her side. He remembers them as Bolin and Asami, who he had seen while eating dinner the night before. Korra had seemed annoyed, her voice raised and her arms crossed. Solan couldn’t help paying attention to what she was talking about.

“Mako can’t stay awkward around us forever. I wish he’d just see there doesn’t have to be this weird thing between us!” Korra ranted, her arms gesturing around. 

“Just give him time. You know he’s not good at dealing with his feelings. He doesn’t know how to not be weird after something’s happened,” Bolin replied to her in an attempt to console her. Solan didn’t know who Mako was, but apparently something must have happened with him and the rest of them. Solan might have been too interested than he’d care to admit about their young adult drama.

Korra sighed and said, “I know, I’m just tired of waiting around for him to work it out with himself. I mean c’mon, me and Asami are fine with everything and with him, it’s just...so frustrating having him withdrawing when we still want to be friends with him, you know?” Bolin and Asami both nodded in sympathetic understanding. “And also while it’s not exactly important, man...I really felt like sparring with him today. How am I supposed to practice my firebending without him?”

“I can still spar with you if you want,” Bolin chimed. 

“Thanks Bolin, but I’d want it to be a firebender versus firebender fight, you know? I guess I could practice some earthbending instead, but…” It was then that Korra took notice of Solan sitting under a tree across the pavilion from them, and Solan watched her eyes light up with an idea. “Hey Solan,” Korra called out to him. “Are you a firebender?”

“Yes, why?” Solan called back with a slight hesitation in his voice. He had a sneaking feeling he knew what she was going to ask him next.

“Want to fight?” Korra grinned as she approached Solan. She said exactly what Solan thought she was going to ask.

Solan opened his mouth to decline, as he wasn’t exactly looking to get his butt whooped that afternoon, but then he closed it immediately. _Solan,_ he thought to himself. _This could be your only chance to be able to say you’ve fought the avatar. Imagine telling people that. Who even cares if you lose?_ Suddenly, Solan was on his feet; his book discarded on the ground. “Let’s go,” Solan confirmed as he slipped the military jacket off from his shoulders and tossed it onto the grass.

“Yes!” Korra shot her hands up in the air from excitement. She quickly backed up to the left side of the pavilion, while her two friends backed off to the sidelines. Solan stretched and shook his arms out as he took his place at the right side of the arena. While it hadn’t been that long since he was in a fight, he was well aware that the odds were stacked against him. He was an old man who, if he were being honest, had never perfected his firebending, going up against the Avatar in her prime. He wasn’t exactly hopeful towards his outcome. Still, he wasn’t going to just keel over and let her have a victory immediately.

“Ready?” Solan questioned as he got into a starting position. He rolled his shoulders and shifted his weight back and forth like a cat getting ready to pounce. Korra was doing the same with a wide grin on her face. Korra nodded her head, and Solan striked.

He knew he wasn’t going to win a fight against Korra if it was drawn out. His endurance wasn’t nearly what her’s was. Because of this, Solan decided to have no hesitation at all. He immediately started to send hot blasts at Korra, who was surprised at first but reacted fast enough to block them. She in turn sent balls of flame right back at Solan, and he dodged three in quick succession before running a few steps forward and kicking a row of fire out at Korra, who leaned back immediately. Solan saw her start to lose her balance, but before he could take advantage of it she shot herself forward and used both fists to shoot flame back and get Solan to back away.

Korra sent out a forward kick of her own and Solan redirected the flames around him to shoot back at her. She dodged to the side and then jabbed her hand forward to spray a stream of flames at Solan. He ran to the side and Korra kept the stream following on his tail. Solan realized he couldn’t run around Korra forever, so suddenly he broke from his circling to slide on the ground at Korra, sending a stream of fire from his foot as he did so. Korra jumped backwards to avoid the flame, flipping in the air and landing back on her feet. Solan jumped back up and was about to attack Korra again when he suddenly heard a voice shouting.

“Yeah, Solan! Kick her ass!” The telltale voice of Bumi came from behind him, and Solan whipped his head around in confusion and surprise. By the time Solan’s focus came back to Korra, a blast of fire had knocked him down onto the ground. Solan groaned as his back slammed into the hard cement and he felt pain course through his body, and when his head met the ground his vision went black. When it finally returned, he saw Korra standing above him with her fist pointed at him with a triumphant grin on her face. 

“I win,” She announced with pride. Solan shut his eyes again. When Solan had recovered and slowly made it back onto his feet, Bumi was approaching him with boisterous laughter. Solan shot him a dark look. 

“You made me lose,” Solan scowled and crossed his arms.

“Hey, you’re the one who couldn’t help but look at me,” Bumi deflected with a shit-eating grin. Solan rolled his eyes. “Honestly, I’m surprised you still had that much fight still in you anyway, you old fart,” Bumi slapped his hand on Solan’s back and then pulled him into one of Bumi’s signature side hugs. 

“We’re practically the same age, so you’re just insulting yourself at this point,” Solan shot back irritably. Even if he was annoyed though, he held no genuine anger at Bumi’s teasing. No matter what jests Bumi had for him, Solan could never bring himself to be mad at him for them. 

“What? Oh come on, I’m as good of a fighter as when I was a kid! Why, just a few weeks ago on the night of Harmonic Convergence, I took out a whole camp of Northern Water Tribe infantry!” Bumi proclaimed. Solan scoffed.

“Knowing you, you probably took them out less with fighting and more by doing something so outrageously stupid it just so happened to take everyone else down with it,” Solan remarked. 

“Yeah yeah, whatever! You weren’t there, so you can’t know how much of what happened was my plan or not!” Solan sighed, but a smile had managed to creep onto his face.

“Whatever you say, Bumi. Now I hate to break it to you, but I think I’m going to go lie down. My back is going to be sore for days,” Solan broke away from Bumi’s affectionate hold and gave him a final pat on the shoulder.

“Yeah, you go lay down old man,” Bumi teased with a grin. Solan shook his head in amusement and walked away, back to retrieve his forgotten belongings under the tree. 

“Hey, thanks for agreeing to spar with me again,” Korra said as she approached Solan, who was putting his jacket back on. “You were pretty good. If Bumi hadn’t come, you might have been able to get the upper hand instead.”

“Yeah, I didn’t really expect to win against the Avatar in any case,” Solan responded casually. “It was nice to fight again, though. If you ever want to again feel free to ask, just...maybe don’t knock me down so hard next time.” Korra laughed.

“Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine,” Solan shrugged. While his back hurt, he wasn’t going to hold it against her considering he consented to fighting her in the first place. “I’m just going to go take it easy for a bit.”

“Alright, well, see you around Solan,” Korra smiled. Solan said his own goodbye and then walked off towards the dormitories, ready to have a nice, long afternoon nap and recover from his fall.

* * *

“SOLAN YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS!”  
  


Solan jolted awake from his slumber, immediately scrambling around as his unprepared mind tried to understand what woke him up. His hand tried to grab the edge of his bed and promptly overshot it, which knocked off his balance and sent him tumbling onto the ground twisted in the knot that used to be his bed sheets.

“Ow.” Solan groaned in a monotone. After struggling for a moment, Solan found his way out of the blanket maze and found his eyes landing on the figure of Bumi standing in the door, making the sort of cringed face most people do after seeing people hurt themselves. Solan was not looking at Bumi with any sort of happiness in his eyes.

“Uh…” Bumi scratched the back of his head with his hand sheepishly. “Sorry about that.”

“Thanks. My back feels much better from that,” Solan snapped with evident sarcasm. While his personal sense of humor always did tend to be dry, the rude awakening certainly increased it.

“I, uh,” Bumi stuttered as he tried to control the situation that had very suddenly spiraled from his control. “I just came because something really exciting happened to me. You aren’t going to believe it!” Solan simply stared at him and slowly blinked once through his deadened glare. Bumi seemingly tried to ignore the response and continued with a forcefully cheerful voice, “Solan...I can airbend!” 

“Sure you can,” Solan nipped. “And I can waterbend.”

“Solan I’m serious,” Bumi cried. “I haven’t gotten the hang of it yet, but I swear I did it earlier. I wouldn’t just lie to you like that.” Bumi’s voice was filled with such indignation, Solan suddenly felt a jolt in his chest that broke through his angered demeanor. It was as if Bumi was offended that Solan thought he would break his trust by lying to him; that Bumi cared for him so unquestioningly. Solan's chest filled with emotions as his body relaxed.

“Show me,” Solan then responded with a voice almost startlingly softer than his previous.

“Well…” Bumi trailed off and instead tried to do as he was told. He widened his stance a bit and shook out his arms to loosen up. Then with his face screwed up tight with concentration, he brought his hands together in front of him as if he were trying to channel his energy. After he stood like this for a few precious moments, he released the energy by pushing his arms forwards toward Solan.

A tiny bubble of air appeared from the ends of Bumi’s hands, and Solan’s face gaped in amazement even though it was a minuscule feat in retrospect. Bumi opened his eyes and upon seeing the bubble, let out a celebratorious guffaw. The bubble moved away from Bumi’s hands right toward Solan.

And then it kept moving. And moving. _And moving._

It took a full thirty seconds for the bubble to meet with Solan, despite the men only being about five feet apart--Which had been plenty of time for Solan to regain composure of himself. He now looked at the bubble with widely curious eyes. When it finally met contact with his shoulder, Solan let himself flop onto his back dramatically.

“Ow.” He said in the most monotone voice he could muster. It was silent for a moment, until both men started to laugh. Bumi’s uproarious laughter mixed with Solan’s subdued yet clearly joyful chuckle to seemingly erase all the previous negative energy within the room. Now it was just them, both so amazed at the formerly thought possible act while also finding its manifestation to be hilarious.

“Bumi,” Solan lilted when his laughter had faded. “How is this _possible_?”

“Hey, I have no idea anymore than you do!” Bumi replied with an emphasized shrug of his shoulders. “Apparently it’s happened to another guy in the city too; but frankly, I don’t care if a witch did it. I’m just happy it’s happening at all!” Solan got to his feet and stepped out of his blanket pile to stand next to Bumi, and he gave Bumi a look that held sympathy Bumi’s tone clearly didn’t warrant. While Bumi acted like everything in his life was water off of a duck’s back, Solan had inferred very early on in their relationship that at least part of it was just a front. Being the only nonbender child to the Avatar and a master waterbender must not have been very easy for Bumi to cope with; even if his parents told him a hundred times over there wasn’t a problem. To suddenly manifest airbending now probably felt to Bumi like the thing he had wanted for all his life was suddenly thrust into his arms with no warning.

“I’m happy for you, Bum’,” Solan murmured and placed his hand upon Bumi’s shoulder. Bumi’s energetic persona seemed to dim a bit when he looked back, for his eyes were filled with a calm gratitude Solan hadn’t seen before. 

“Thank you,” Bumi rasped back with a gentle smile. His energy soon returned to him and he whacked Solan on the back as he usually did to show affection and then beamed, “This is a call for celebration! Come on, let’s go out, get some drinks, and party a little, huh?” 

“Yeah, that sounds fine. Let me put something nicer on, then I’ll meet you by the temple, alright?” Solan replied. He was currently dressed in a tank top and a pair of large lounging pants, and he wasn’t so fond of leaving in them. He might not have been a fashion-forward man, but he didn’t want to be dressed like he just got out of bed (since he did).

“Alright! I’ll meet you there,” Bumi grinned and then left with the shut of the door. Solan smiled softly after he left. It had been a long time since he was able to relax with some light intoxication, and even longer since he had done it with Bumi. He was looking forward to spending the evening out with his friend at whichever bar they would find first.

And that was exactly what had happened.

Solan and Bumi found themselves in the first bar that they had come across, and it didn’t take long for them to both start to go under. While Bumi was drinking a fair bit more than Solan, neither of them had actually wanted to be completely drunk, and instead they spent their time talking. And talk they did.

For hours Solan and Bumi sat in that little bar, celebrating Bumi’s new abilities while also sharing stories of the past. The alcohol that swam around in Bumi’s veins could only make the man even more boisterous and proud, so most of the night was him telling stories of his great feats; both real and fake ones. Solan was more than happy to sit and listen to him for the rest of the night, and when Bumi ran out of war stories he started to tell ones of his childhood instead. Nearly three hours they had spent just talking about Bumi’s life and Solan never tired of it. 

For whatever reason, Solan could have listened to Bumi talk about himself for days. He enjoyed hearing everything the man had to say, and he was certainly fascinated to hear what it was like for him to be raised by the very group who had ended The One Hundred Year War. Solan could never get over the fact that to Bumi growing up, Lord Zuko of the Fire Nation was his Uncle Zuko. So much of Solan’s late teens and early adulthood had been spent fixating on the Fire Lord and his life as an ultimate role model; if he had ever met him Solan thought he might die on the spot from shock. Even if Bumi wasn’t talking about his life, Solan would still listen to him with an interest nothing else in his life matched. He truly just liked to listen to Bumi because he was Bumi, and Bumi made him happy.

Bumi couldn’t talk for eternity, however. Eventually the two realized it was time to take their leave. While neither of them were completely out of it, they had both had enough to drink that night that they’d certainly feel it in the morning, and Solan didn’t want to stay out so late they could get caught by the rather unsavory people who would come out in the city at night.

“Here, I’ll pay for tonight. It was a celebration for you, after all. I’ve got to go to the bathroom, then we can leave,” Solan announced as he took his wallet out and tossed it on the table next to Bumi, then stood up and walked to the restrooms. When he returned after finishing his business, he saw Bumi sitting and staring at something in his hand. When he took his seat back next to him, he realized it was an old photograph of them together in their first years of being soldiers. 

“You keep a picture of us in your wallet?” Bumi asked quietly. His voice was calm and filled with a soft, nostalgic wonder that Solan so rarely heard from him. Solan had to look away as he felt a touch of heat come to his cheeks. In the back of his mind, he hoped if Bumi saw it he would just excuse it on the alcohol.

“Yeah. I have for a while, actually,” He responded shyly.

“...That’s touching.” Solan turned back to meet Bumi, who was staring at him with such affection it made something abruptly stir within Solan. He felt like his chest had filled itself up with something and he had to force himself to take small breaths.

“You’re...you’re really important to me, Bumi. You’re the closest friend I’ve ever had. I don’t know what I’d be without you,” Solan croaked. He didn’t know why, but he felt more than just the camaraderie of a brother in arms when he looked at Bumi then. There was a swarm of dragonflies buzzing in a torrential spiral in his stomach when he looked at the affection held within Bumi’s eyes.

“You’re my best friend too,” Bumi murmured in reply. The seriousness of his voice was more than Bumi had ever heard from him before. He set a hand on Solan’s shoulder, and it felt like his touch had turned his shoulder red hot. Solan had known the affectionate touches of this man for years; he didn’t know why it felt different then. Was he just getting choked up so much because of the liquor flowing through his system?

“Let’s...let’s go back to the temple now, Bum’. It’s late.” 

“Yeah...Let’s go.” Bumi tucked the photo back into Solan’s wallet and stood. Together, they walked out of the bar and back towards the docks, steps in time with the other and Bumi’s arm around Solan’s shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo heres chapter 2 :D as of posting this i absolutely do not have chapter 3 done so unfortunately expect a longer wait for the next installment (and also because ive started hyperfixating on Ghost >>"). Don't worry tho it'll be worth it !! I pwomise...
> 
> The relationship developments are now beginning. I was like so hyped to get to write Kya's scene with Solan especially. I have plans for them to develop a very strong bond by the end of the story, because I mean just look at Kya who wouldn't want to be her best friend? Also on the topic of the first scene, I wanted to note that the movements Solan practiced was basically supposed to be like the kind of Tai Chi people do irl for heath benefits. I didn't exactly know what to call it so i just didn't mention a name for it. But yes, waterbending does have some inspirations that came from Tai Chi. Fun!!
> 
> Writing Korra's scene was also very fun. First time ever writing a fighting scene of any kind! I have... no idea how well I did lol. I am not looking forward for the inevitable fight scenes i'll have to write in the future for this fic...
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter!  
> If you'd like to talk to me about Solan and Bumi (or anything at all really) feel free to hit me up on tumblr-->  
> main: @queerdistortion  
> ocXcanon/Self shipping blog: @queerselfships  
> Name of fic taken from the lyrics of this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJp2kcWnmnU  
> Check out the full quality illustrations on my deviantart: https://www.deviantart.com/angelcosmo


	3. Departure

Waking up in the morning with a hangover was never a good way to start the day; but at his age, Solan was more than familiar with the throbbing pain in his head. The bright sunlight that flooded in through his window made his eyes shut almost immediately after opening them, and Solan had to take a few minutes of lying there with his hands over his eyes to adjust and wake up. Eventually, he got the energy to pull himself out of bed and change his clothes, before trudging along to the cafeteria to find breakfast.

Bumi and his family, along with Korra and her friends, were already sitting down at one of the long tables in the room. The others were filled with scatterings of Air Acolytes, who talked amongst themselves enough to have a quiet hum hang in the room; though Solan didn’t care to focus on any particular voice to understand them. From the looks of their plates, they had started eating a while ago.

“Morning,” Bumi drawled with a slight smirk on his face. The others at the table all turned their eyes to Solan, who just ignored them and furrowed his brows at Bumi.

“Why are you so chipper?” Solan asked flatly, crossing his arms and leaning against the door. Bumi snorted.

“Even though I drank more, you’re the one who ended up more hungover. You’re a lightweight!” He remarked. Solan rolled his eyes.

“I am _not_.”

“Don’t start bickering like the kids do,” Kya chastised from her spot at the table. She looked between then for a moment before her gaze stood on Solan. “Come on, you can still get some food and eat with us,” She gave him a friendly smile, and Solan let her kindness melt a bit of his irritableness away.

“Yeah, sure,” Solan replied, then pushed himself away from the doorframe to go get his breakfast. The regular chatting between everyone else started again and didn’t stop when Solan sat down, and he found himself appreciative of that. He might not have been very close with any of them, but he enjoyed being accepted so easily by others.

The rest of breakfast continued in the same way of pleasant conversation, which helped to relax Solan for what would probably be a tiring day considering the ache in his head. And indeed it had turned out to be-- for not just him-- but everyone on the island. He had been in the courtyard when Chief Beifong of the Republic City Police Department came to the island, a young man with a mess of short black hair and an awkward expression following behind her. He realized the man was Mako; the one Korra had been so frustrated with the day before.

They talked of another man developing airbending in the City, and that was certainly a surprise for all of them. For not just Bumi to develop airbending out of the blue, but complete strangers who weren’t even related to Avatar Aang developing it? It certainly must have meant there were more airbenders out in other areas of the kingdom. Unfortunately, finding the man hadn’t been an easy task for the police. Of course, that was until that evening...

“So, did they get that guy down from the top of Kyoshi bridge then?” Solan asked when he heard the sound of footsteps enter the dining area.

“Yep. Tenzin said on the phone that as soon as they finished the incident report filing at the station, they would come back,” Pema answered as she walked over to the table that Solan, Kya, and the three airbender children sat at, with Johan on her hip and a bowl of baby food in her free hand.

“I hate how much boring paperwork the police do considering so little of it ever gets used for anything,” Kya complained idly.

“We’ll get to meet the new airbender soon?” Meelo shouted, completely ignoring the fact that her aunt was talking to her mother.

“Yes,” Pema sighed with a side-eye look at her youngest child. She sat down at the table and situated Johan in her lap, then picked up the spoon in the bowl and scooped up some baby food. “Do you want to try peas, Johan?” She cooed to her son with a smile. Solan couldn’t help but smile at the infant (Even if he tended to be awkward around children, he certainly felt fondness for them; especially young Johan) as the other three kids chittered to each other.

“We get to meet our new brother!” Ikki grinned and clapped her hands together in excitement.

“Do you think he’ll struggle like Korra did?” Jinora asked her sister.

“No! Korra couldn’t even bend for weeks—“ Meelo dragged out the last word and made an exaggerated hand gesture,”—and this guy can already airbend! I thought you were supposed to be the smart one, _Ji-nor-uh._ ” Meelo pushed his finger into Jinora’s forehead, who swatted his hand away immediately.

“You don’t have to be mean!” Jinora snapped, and pushed his arm in retaliation. Solan had a sneaking suspicion the situation was going to turn badly, as siblings usually made things. He scooted slightly farther away from their side of the table.

“Hey!” Meelo yelled, jumping up onto his feet and then going to push Jinora back, who fell over on top of their other sister. Ikki let out a yelp and rolled Jinora off of her.

“Meelo!” Ikki and Jinora screeched in twin anger.

“Enough!” Pema shouted at her other children, which made Johan startle and then start to cry.

“The three of you have gone and upset your brother,” Kya scolded as she jumped up to her feet and quickly stepped in between the girls and Meelo, her hands acting as barriers to keep them separated. They all instead decided to stick their tongues out at each other. As this all happened, Solan quietly thanked his life circumstances for coming in the way of having children of his own. He might have been a soldier, but it takes a completely different kind of strength to deal with bickering juveniles.

“Good news!” Bumi’s voice suddenly appeared from the hallway and everyone’s eyes shot to him. He was leaning in the doorway with a signature wide grin lighting up his face. Solan graciously accepted the familiar distraction of Bumi’s room-stealing presence away from the squabbling siblings. “I just saw an air bison flying over from Republic City!” Bumi sang and wiggled his eyebrows at his nieces and nephew, who all immediately perked up.

“Our new brother!” Meelo yelled, immediately jumping to his feet and creating an air scooter. Bumi barely jumped out of the way fast enough to miss being hit by Meelo as he shot out the door.

“Hey!” Pema yelled in aggravation, while Kya just laughed. Ikki and Jinora both made noises of anger before they both jumped out and ran after their brother, at least having the sense to not take an air scooter inside the temple.

“Well, what are the rest of you waiting for?” Bumi huffed playfully. Kya rolled her eyes dramatically, while Solan had just the smallest smile playing on his cheeks. Individually, they all climbed to their feet.

“Go on and meet Tenzin,” Pema said. “I think Johan’s getting tired. I’ll put him in his crib.” The baby in her arms made a small noise in seeming agreement. Now that he was done pouting and crying, his eyes were starting to drift and his head laid against Pema’s shoulder lazily. Kya doted on him one last time by ruffling his hair, then her, Solan, and Bumi filed out of the dining area to exit the temple at the front doors.

As they stepped out of the temple, they were greeted with the sight of Oogi landing in the middle of the plaza. Tenzin dropped from the back of the large animal and fell through the air he bended gracefully, while Korra simply jumped off and landed flat on her feet. Another man in the saddle looked towards the ground nervously, and eventually fumbled his way to the ground. Solan looked around and noticed that Asami and Bolin had come into the clearing, as well as plenty of curious air acolytes. As soon as the stranger’s feet hit the ground, the children were on him with questions spoken so fast Solan didn’t understand half of them.

“Kids, give him some space,” Tenzin scolded with exasperation clear in his voice. Jinora obeyed her father naturally, but he had to grab the collars of the younger two and pull them back. He then turned to face the crowd of people that had emerged, and began to address them. “Everyone, I’d like you to meet our new airbender: Daw.” He motioned to the new man, who gave an awkward smile and waved. “He’s going to be staying on the island now so we can teach him the art of airbending.”

“Additionally,” Korra chimed in, “We’re going to leave to travel the Earth Kingdom to find the rest of the airbenders that would have awoken from Harmonic Convergence. There’s got to be more than just Bumi and Daw; maybe more in Republic City alone. It’s my duty to keep the balance of the world, and that includes helping rebuild the Air Nation.” She looked at Tenzin and gave him a smile, before suddenly her face dropped as if she just remembered something. “Oh, and I kind of got kicked out of the city anyway by the president.” Solan saw Asami drop her face into her hands out of the corner of his eye at the same time Bumi guffawed.

“Hey, that guy has always had it out for me. It was only a matter of time.” Korra crossed her arms and shrugged.

“We’d like to leave as soon as possible, but we’ll need to plan how exactly we’ll leave first. We could take the bison, but there’s no telling how long this trip would take or how many airbenders there could be out there. It would be best to take an airship, but I’m not exactly going to just go to the police station and take one of theirs.” Tenzin said. His brows furrowed slightly as he seemed to concentrate.

“Future Industries has plenty of airships,” Asami spoke up and took a step forward as the crowd’s eyes turned onto her. “We could just take one of those.”

“Really, Asami?” Korra exclaimed in excitement. “That would be so nice of you!”

“Oh, of course! It’s no problem,” Asami smiled warmly. Even though Solan had spent little time with her, he couldn’t help but respect her. She exuded an aura of both kindness and power, which was rare in people with her line of work. Usually business moguls were not as kind as Asami seemed to be. “I can have it ready by tomorrow and we can leave then.”

“Great! Mako should be done contacting enough stations in the Earth Kingdom by then that we can plan what our route will be.”

“Now all that’s left to do is get ready for tomorrow,” Tenzin said. “Kids, why don’t you go show Daw where he’ll be staying with the Acolytes?” The kids all made noises of excited agreement and soon they were pulling Daw over to the dorms, their loud voices echoing in the area even after they began to leave.

“I still can’t believe this is happening,” Bumi said suddenly, and Solan turned to look at him. “I’m an airbender now! My retirement has already become even more exciting than my entire service!” Solan snorted, but a spot inside Solan’s chest felt numb and heavy. Even though he was happy for his friend, he felt sad that he was going to have to watch him leave for who knows how long, as he stayed with people he barely knew. But after all, why would Bumi want him to go with him on such a personal trip in any case? It was obvious to him that Solan wouldn’t be leaving Republic City.

At least, that’s what Solan assumed would be the case.

The sun was beginning it’s descent below the horizon when Solan entered his room. He went to the single hexagonal window and looked out towards the center of the island. There were still air acolytes running back and forth across the cement paths, most likely planning schedules and things with the White Lotus guards stationed all the way across the island. Solan felt a feeling of loss when he imagined having to be here without Bumi around to stay with. He guessed that was a reason for him to go get a new apartment and stop living at the home of his friend. He couldn’t very well stay on the island forever now, could he?

“Solan!” A fist slammed against the frame of his door and Solan shot around to see Bumi standing in the middle of it, arm resting casually. “How come you haven’t packed yet? I know you don’t have a lot of stuff, but come on, you don’t want to be late when we leave in the morning.” Solan did a double take.

“You...want me to go?” He asked incredulously.

“Are you not?” Bumi’s eyebrows raised in surprise. Solan’s face rapidly heated up. He had been so certain he wouldn’t have been allowed to join them that he hadn’t even asked. He didn’t think Bumi would want Solan to come along.

“I just...I assumed I wouldn’t be going,” Solan answered with a poorly hidden timidity to his voice as Bumi walked over to him. “That you wouldn’t want me to come, I mean. Since it would be a very personal trip for you all…”

“Solan, of course you can come!” Bumi exclaimed in a high pitch that clearly indicated he didn’t realize he had had to say it. “You’re my best friend, of course I’d want you by my side.” Bumi’s voice was softer, and punctuated with his hand grabbing a hold of Solan’s shoulder. Solan’s heart stirred and the heat in his face now felt of a completely different kind.

“I...of course I’ll come. I’ll make sure I’m ready by the morning.” Solan affirmed with a slight nod of his head.

“Good!” Bumi grinned. “We always made a good team together. Hey, plus, you’ll get to see how airbenders train. Maybe you can become a _fair_ -bender! Haha! Get it?” Solan snorted and put his face in his hand to hide the big smile on his face after Bumi’s considerably horrible joke.

“Just go so I can get packed,” Solan rolled his eyes after he dropped his hand.

“Yeah yeah,” Bumi crowed, walking back to the door and stepping into the hall. “I’ll see you in the morning, Sol’,” He said in a voice filled with much more fondness than before. Solan felt like the sun was glowing inside of him.

“Goodnight, Bum’,” Solan answered with his matching nickname. The other man shut the door, and Solan heard the echoes of his footsteps as he walked away. Slowly, the heat inside Solan’s chest and face stilled and he was left feeling almost empty inside. He stood there for a long moment, staring at the shut door of his room with a gaze that came eerily close to one of longing, before he finally turned back around to pack.

* * *

Solan had only stepped onto an airship a handful of times in his life, all of which were trips taken during his service in the United Forces. Considering he served in the navy, it wasn’t exactly a common occurrence. Stepping onto one for a purpose completely separated from his military service felt rather strange to him. It didn’t take him long to situate his belongings in his cabin, and soon enough they had taken off toward the closest village with reports of an airbender manifesting. Now Solan sat at the central table with the others as they talked of what was to come.

“Ugh, I am so excited!” Bolin proclaimed. “I mean, not only are we getting to help rebuild the Air Nation, we’re going to see the whole Earth Kingdom! I mean, c’mon! Seeing Ba Sing Se where our Dad’s family is? Mako, this is the coolest thing ever!”

“It’s definitely big,” Mako replied in a tone much more calm than his brother’s. “But not to burst your bubble, just going to Ba Sing Se doesn’t mean we’ll meet some secret family members we don’t know about. I’m sure there could still be some of Dad’s family there, but we wouldn’t even know them if we saw them. I mean, we probably wouldn’t even run into them with how big the city is.”

“Hey, you just got to believe, man,” Bolin countered passionately.

“Well, _I_ hope you find your family there,” Korra announced.

“Hey, you’re the one who let us come along! If we do, it’s all thanks to you.”

“How could I not have you guys come? There’s no one I’d rather do this with than you guys and Asami. We took down Amon and Unalaq together; it’s only fitting we come together for this too.”

“I think it’s great that you came along. You’ll never have closer friends than the ones that you fight side by side with,” Bumi chimed in suddenly. “I mean, look at me and Solan! Friends for decades!” He grabbed a hold of Solan’s shoulder next to him and pulled him close, causing him to awkwardly hang over the gap between their chairs. Solan rolled his eyes at the action.

“How did you guys meet anyway,” Bolin asked with a turn of his head.

“I saved his life,” Solan replied immediately, to which Bumi scoffed.

“Okay, I _so_ could have saved myself if you hadn’t been there, thank you very much!” He retorted.

“Oh, _sure._ ”

“I could have!”

“Bumi; you had no weapons, were injured, unarmed, and the guy already had a knife to your neck.”

“Woah, woah, woah! Back up, now we need the context,” Korra interjected, now suddenly on the edge of her seat.

“Well,” Solan began. “It was decades ago now, when Bumi and I were still pretty low in the ranks. We were both part of the same platoon, and Bumi’s section had originally been deployed to assist with a conflict in Northern Water Tribe territory. It wasn’t supposed to be a big engagement, but they had underestimated the enemy’s forces and ended up calling for backup…”

_Snow whipped around Solan’s face in thick enough waves that he could barely see a few yards in front of him. In his mind, he was cursing every person he had ever known that led to him joining the United Forces, while physically his feet pushed on through the deep snow. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. The mission wasn’t supposed to require his section, but apparently the group they were supposed to apprehend were much larger than expected. Now Solan had to trudge through a foot of snow while it stormed more of the offensive powder on top of him._

_“We should be coming up on their hold out position soon! Get ready,” The voice of Solan’s corporal called out. The forms of his comrades were already blurry through the snowstorm. Fear started to creep into Solan’s system and he breathed through it with a practiced ease he soon learned after his first few engagements._

_It didn’t take them long to reach close enough to hear the sounds of fighting in front of them. The corporal motioned for the soldiers to quicken their pace, and Solan breathed fire into his hands to check he hadn’t become so cold his bending had left him, then he charged forward with the others._

_The scene seemed deceptively small as the snow blotted out the silhouettes of men slaughtering one another, the only things breaking through the overcast of grey being the flames of other firebenders. Solan knew if it hadn’t been storming, the crimson of freshly-spilled blood would have flooded his eyes. Solan took long enough to survey the scene to spot one of his squadmates being flocked by three adversaries, then he rushed into action._

_He unleashed one large blast of fire directly into the back of one of the three, which sent them barreling into the ground. The other two-- one sword against sword with Solan’s squadmate-- turned when the other fell. His squadmate took the advantage to twist his sword free and quickly plunge it into his combatant’s chest. The other jumped to attack Solan in retaliation. Solan quickly drew his sword and blocked the strike, as he knew he wouldn’t be able to dodge with his feet deep in the snow. He blocked another swig, then his squadmate sliced his own sword through the back of the enemy. They dropped to the ground and Solan met eyes with his friend once, he gave a nod, and they both moved to join the fray once again._

_Solan spotted a stray enemy alone, and confusion filled him. As he squinted through the sheet of snow, he finally realized the coat of grey under them, and he began to run toward them. The howl of wind disguised his frantic footfalls and he was able to successfully sneak behind the figure. He took hold of his sword’s handle in both hands, then drove it down onto his target’s head. They went falling forward and Solan had to quickly free one of his hands to grab the now-unconscious enemy and toss the body to the side, before it fell on the soldier underneath._

_“Are you okay?” Solan shouted above the wind. The man wore the coat of a benderless low-ranked officer and Solan didn’t recognize him, so he assumed the man must have been from the group that called for reinforcements. He had a bit of blood on his forehead, but his eyes were squinted open._

_“Scratched,” The man croaked. Solan looked down to where the man’s hand was clutching his side and sure enough, blood was soaking into his coat._

_“That’s a lot more than a scratch,” Solan retorted with a snort and leaned down to help the man to his feet. Solan wrapped an arm around him to keep him steady, then led him away from the conflict as fast as they were able to go through the thick layer of snow on the ground._

__

_Solan found his way back to where a few soldiers were gathered-- he assumed with the radios and first aid equipment. He helped his charge sit with his back against a large rock, which shielded their position from the battleground. Then, Solan gave a nod to the other two soldiers before he turned and started to trudge his way back to rejoin the fight._

* * *

_The smell of medical sanitizer burned Solan’s nostrils as he stepped within the hospital wing, and he was quickly met with the sight of rows and rows of beds filled with injured soldiers. Doctors and healers paced through the rows of patients with the looks of tiredness everyone in acting service felt, even though they didn’t fight themselves. Solan felt lucky he was at least in here when they weren’t currently engaged in a large scale confrontation or war. He knew it would have been even worse if they were._

_It didn’t take Solan long to find the person he was looking for. It was hard to miss the wild mane of brown hair, even if when he had first seen it it was matted with blood and snow. It had been a few days since the fight, and Solan wanted to see how he was faring. He found out his name was Bumi, and they were the same rank and had been serving for roughly the same amount of time. Solan was kind of surprised they hadn’t met before this, in all actuality._

_“Hey.”_

_Bumi’s head turned fast in surprise, and his features quickly twisted into an expression of delight when he seemed to recognize Solan. “You’re the guy who saved me.”_

_“Solan,” He introduced himself and reached out a hand. Bumi moved the tray of food that had sat on his lap onto one of the bedside tables, then he took Solan’s hand and shook it firmly._

_“Bumi,” He replied with a grin. “I didn’t expect you of all people to come visit me! Not many people like to visit here.”_

_“I wanted to make sure you were alright. It certainly was a hard night.” Solan moved to grab a chair that wasn’t being used and pulled it over to Bumi’s bed to sit beside._

_“Yeah,” Bumi’s expression softened. “You were great out there, though. If it wasn’t for you, my ass would have been toasted!” They both shared a chuckle, Bumi much louder than Solan. “Thank you for that, really.”_

_“Of course. It’s what we all would have done. You may not have been in my section, but we’re still comrades. It’s what we signed up for when joining.”_

_“You’re right; though not all of us enrolled willingly,” Bumi replied with a bit of a sour tone in his voice._

_“You were press-ganged?” Solan asked as his lips quirked up. Upon Bumi’s confirmation Solan said, “I was too. Even if I hadn’t chosen to join at first, the military has given me a purpose and I’m glad for that._

_“You can say that again,” Bumi smiled warmly, and Solan felt at ease. Bumi seemed like the type of person to radiate kindness and energy, and Solan couldn’t help but feel drawn to him. He felt sad that he couldn’t stay and talk with him longer._

_“I’m sorry to stay only for a moment, but I do have to return now before my corporal gets on me for not doing my work.” Solan stood from his seat. “I’ll try to visit again when I have more time. It was nice to talk to you.”_

_“Hey, no worries! I liked talking with you too. When you visit again, bring me some lunch though. Hospital food is even worse than our usual rations!” Bumi grinned one last teeth-baring smile, and Solan felt the warmth sink into his core._

_“I’ll try,” Solan returned and turned to walk out the way he came. The next time he saw Bumi, he had food in his hands and a notice of section transfer in his pocket._

“Oh man, that’s the coolest story ever!” Bolin yelled with his hands thrown in the air. Solan laughed.

“Honestly, it’s pretty typical as far as military stories go.”

“Yeah, I can tell you about plenty of cooler fights I’ve been in,” Bumi boasted. “Why, just the other day I was thinking about the time I was stuck stranded on an island after a pi--”

“I’ve had enough of military stories, thank you,” Tenzin held up a hand, and Solan felt like rolling his eyes. Tenzin seemed to always be particularly annoyed by Bumi’s tales. Bumi pouted at Tenzin’s refusal.

“Well, _we’re_ always free to listen to your stories,” Korra crossed her arms and smiled.

“Yeah! I mean, I still think Solan’s story is cool enough anyway,” Bolin expressed. “I mean, lifelong friends because one of you saved the other in battle? That’s the best origin for friendship I’ve ever heard! It’d be even cooler if you were a couple or something, but still!” Solan spluttered, and Bumi guffawed.

“Yeah Solan, we’d be the perfect couple! Two former comrades-in-arms turned lovers, how romantic!” Bumi joked loudly. Solan desperately willed his face to stop flushing as bright as it was.

“You wish,” Solan retorted and pointedly looked away from the man sitting next to him.

“Awe, no reason to be embarrassed! I’m just joking,” Bumi wrapped an arm around Solan and rested his head against Solan’s shoulder in a fake-apologetic gesture. Solan rolled his eyes and groaned and ignored both Bumi and the laughter he heard from down the table. Instead, he pretended to be a turtleduck and mentally tucked himself away from the world. He was too tired to try and think about why he had been so flustered anyway. After all, why would he be this embarrassed if he didn’t like Bumi in that way in any case?

“Hey guys,” Mako’s voice broke Solan out of his thoughts, and everyone at the table turned to look at Mako as he walked out from the cockpit. “Asami says we should be arriving at the first town soon. It wasn’t too far out from Republic City.”

“Time to meet another new airbender!” Korra exclaimed in triumphal excitement. Everyone shared their own words of excitement, and Solan hummed as he thought about how the rest of the following weeks would go. Seeing places all around the earth kingdom, gathering airbender after airbender from the villages to take back to the Northern Air Temple...it was set to be an exciting time indeed. And here was the start, with their first airbender to soon join them on their journey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHOO!  
> Chapter 3 is finally, finally finished lol. It has been....quite a slog. I just want to skip to all the good parts i've thought of, but I can't because Exposition and Plot or whatever. Plus i've been messing with my ADHD meds and definitely do not think the new ones are working at all so that definitely has been fucking with my motivation lol. IT'S DONE NOW THO >:D
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter I'm very excited to write, as we get into Backstory and also more canon divergence bc i decided soon after starting this that actually I wanted to change it more than just having solan be there... I Write Korra Now.
> 
> EDIT ADDITION: OKAY I forgot to say this when I posted bc i was tired af and wasnt thinking about it BUT the idea of Bumi being press-ganged was actually directly inspired by an old fic on ao3 that i read and it is just SOOOO good. It’s like 80k and while I’m sad that it doesn’t look like it’ll be finished, I still wholeheartedly adore what is there and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND yall read it. PLEASE its so good 😭! Read here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10097036/chapters/22490843
> 
> Anyway hopefully it won't take too long to writing Chapter 4, haha. See y'all next update! 
> 
> If you'd like to talk to me about Solan and Bumi (or anything at all really) feel free to hit me up on tumblr-->  
> main: @queerdistortion  
> ocXcanon/Self shipping blog: @queerselfships  
> Name of fic taken from the lyrics of this song (by a criminally underrated artist, PLEASE listen to this banger): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJp2kcWnmnU  
> Check out the full quality illustrations on my deviantart: https://www.deviantart.com/angelcosmo


End file.
